Something different

THE acting government is keeping a low profile as it tries to ride out the storm before new elections which presumably it hopes to win.

Vice-president and Mariano Rajoy’s right-hand woman Soraya Saenz de Santamaria certainly seems less in evidence, but what has she done to her own profile? 

It can’t be Botox as she still wrinkles her forehead when she frowns, although it could be fillers or even hair extensions. There’s certainly something different, although not her manner or her politics, both of which remain dry and dismissive. 

Leading questions

PODEMOS is supposedly an antidote to the political caste embodied by the PSOE socialists and Partido Popular conservatives. 

This was clearly an astute move because Podemos was the third-most-voted party in the December 20 general elections. After months of Podemos demands that made any government pact impossible, Podemos members were asked two questions in an internal referendum. 

Did they really want Podemos to govern with nasty PSOE and Ciudadanos?  Or a marvellous government of change proposed by Podemos, En Comu Podem and En Marea? 

A total of 88 per cent rejected any pact, which was inevitable when the questions were phrased in a way that gave little choice.  

Meanwhile Podemos leader Pablo Iglesias revealed himself as less accommodating than most of the caste, and as autocratic as the worst of them.

Keep it flying

SEVERAL city and town halls displayed the republican flag on April 15, the anniversary of Spain’s Second Republic, but most were careful not to fly it which would have landed them in legal hot water.

Yet more than one old-timer can remember seeing the Hammer and Sickle flying in the early years of the Transition. And they lived to tell the tale.

Risk factor

FINDING a successor for Partido Popular leader and acting President Mariano Rajoy would put the party at risk, warned Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo. 

That’s not an entirely accurate prediction because it’s not the PP itself that is at risk but only the crusty, rusty party as it is now.